Soot Pollution

Each year, tens of thousands of Americans die due to exposure to particle pollution - tiny solids and liquid droplets of acids, chemicals, metals and dust suspended in the air. This pollution is emitted by power plants and other industrial sources, and motor vehicles, particulary trucks and construction equipment.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has regulated particles measuring between 2.5 and 10 micrometers. In 2004, the agency for the first time designated areas with high levels of “fine” particulate matter, measured at 2.5 micrometers or less, which penetrate deeply into lung tissue and are especially dangerous for human health. The EPA estimates that controlling this soot  would save 23,000 lives per year. 

With a high number of old, coal-fired power plants and other industrial emitters, the South is at particular risk. The EPA identified 37 counties in Alabama, Georgia and North Carolina as having unhealthy levels of particle pollution in the air.

These “nonattainment” areas are now under a federal deadline to clean their air or face stricter regulations on industrial emissions and potential loss of highway construction funds.

The Threat

Soot poses a very real danger to the long-term heath of the general public, and specifically for children and the elderly - comparable to frequent exposure to second-hand smoke. Unlike the summer plague of ozone pollution (smog), the threat of soot exists year-round.  In North Carolina, Georgia and Alabama combined, 2,722 people die prematurely and over 2,000 more are hospitalized each year due to particle pollution, according to EPA estimates. Particle pollution results in over 67,000 asthma attacks each year across these three states, many severe enough to require trips to the emergency room.

What is Being Done

SELC is calling on the EPA to include enough counties in the designated nonattainment areas to allow comprehensive, enduring, and fair clean-up measures in order to appropriately protect public health.